Here is a reminder of what's coming up next from the Collinsverse. On Sunday 15th July (that's a week from tomorrow) 'Kevin and Oscar: Snapshots' kicks off as we pick up directly after the Christmas Special to find out exactly what happened at the Enchantment in the Sky dance, and immediately afterwards. Like 'Kevin and the Gang: In-Between', there are eight episodes in this series, this time charting the adventures of Kevin and Oscar between the end of 2003 and their backpacking tour of Mexico during the second half of 2006.

This batch had a few potential titles at various stages, but in the end I settled on 'Snapshots' because I thought that was the one which described it best - it really is a series of snapshots from Kevin and Oscar's lives during that three-year period, offering intriguing snippets of their interactions with friends, family, school, work (both voluntary and paid), hobbies, ambitions, globe-trotting adventures and, most importantly of all, each other. Believe it or not, there's even a ghost investigation in one episode!

It's almost two years since I wrote the first draft of this series and it's been through a whole lot of refinements to try to get it to make as much in-universe sense as possible (not least because of 'In-Between' coming along in the meantime) and I really think it's finally ready at last! You actually wouldn't believe the hours we've both spent trying to get the Collinsverse to make as much sense as possible, in terms of both events and characterisation, as well as eliminating anything that could even come close to being seen as a continuity error, but of course it's all been worth it! As we're often heard to remark to each other, the Collinsverse makes far more sense than the "real" world!

As has been mentioned before, 'Snapshots' will be dovetailed with Rosey's series of eight adventures involving Kylie and Eduardo spreading their wings during the summer of 2000, which is just after the main series of 'The Riveras' in case you've forgotten. Releases will continue to come every three weeks, so you're still getting stories from one and then the other of us in turn, although this time they'll make up two separate batches of adventures set at two completely different times. But don't worry - you'll soon get used to it, and it will all make perfect sense!

December 2003: In the aftermath of the Enchantment in the Sky dance, Beth and Dana are called in for a chat with the school principal. Meanwhile, Kevin and Oscar must face their friends, their enemies, and finally each other.

A couple of couples stop beating about the bush as this series kicks off, otherwise it wouldn't really be able to kick off at all! I think this is a pretty accurate depiction of how things would have been in 2003, but I don't think it would be the same now, at least not in every way. Hopefully this is a story to get you thinking, and also looking forward to some highly titillating young adult adventures to follow!

December 2003: In the aftermath of the Enchantment in the Sky dance, Beth and Dana are called in for a chat with the school principal. Meanwhile, Kevin and Oscar must face their friends, their enemies, and finally each other.

A couple of couples stop beating about the bush as this series kicks off, otherwise it wouldn't really be able to kick off at all! I think this is a pretty accurate depiction of how things would have been in 2003, but I don't think it would be the same now, at least not in every way. Hopefully this is a story to get you thinking, and also looking forward to some highly titillating young adult adventures to follow!

The real wild card is Carlos. He's definitely grown into a more tolerant person than he was, but there's still the chance he won't take this completely well.

It seems like a long time since I first read these stories, and I've forgotten some of the details (probably more in other stories than this relatively short one, though), so I too will be interested to see (well, be reminded) how things progress.

Although we've seen Mark Warner being a homophobic moron before, this was actually the first thing to be written where he does more than answer his name at roll call, and inspired his characterisation in previous releases. I particularly enjoy Michael's reaction to his behaviour, not because I advocate violence but because it provides a lot of consistency with what we learned about Michael the first couple of times we met him.

The varied reactions to what is revealed at the Enchantment in the Sky dance are very realistic, as far as I'm aware. Of course, all the people that matter are being totally supportive... so far!

I'm sure you'll be pleased to hear that Carl's feelings about Kevin/Oscar and his own continuing personal journey will play a huge part in the future of the Collinsverse, starting in the next episode of this series and (it's no exaggeration to say) continuing forever after.

One of my very first ideas for this series was that Michael's violent tendencies would be sure to flare up to defend Kevin from a homophobic classmate, and thus Mark Warner as we know him was born! By the way, we'll see at some point in the future (or should that be the past?) the exact exchange between twelve-year-old Michael and twelve-year-old Mark that made it pretty much a certainty that Michael would end up giving Mark a thorough pasting someday, but there's a lot to come before that!

Several of the tweaks I made to this series after "In-Between" was written involved Michael, who has turned out to be such an important character in the Collinsverse, and one of my very favourites. (Although I have a heck of a lot of very favourites, come to think of it!) I don't want to say I exactly toned him down, but I was forced to make a few pretty significant adjustments to him based on a couple of considerations from "In-Between", namely that we'd already gained a huge insight into his secret heart in relation to so many aspects of his life, and that he'd developed an incredibly close friendship with Kevin that I did not at first anticipate. But of course, as I've said before in this thread, Michael is always Michael - prone to fits of violence and moments of crippling self-doubt, which we now know come from a loving heart and a beautiful soul, no matter how unhelpful they might be at the time.

What I specifically think (or at least hope!) would be different about the situation presented in this story if it happened nowadays is that the school wouldn't call the parents in to discuss homosexual activity as if it's the same as bullying or bad marks or other such school problems. I suppose this probably depends very much on the individual school.

It's great to see some more of Eduardo and Kylie at this stage in their relationship - I can really feel what an exciting adventure this trip is for them both in so many different ways.

I recognise quite a bit of this particular part of their European tour as very similar to some experiences I myself have been involved with, namely visiting Whitby at differing times of year and making comparisons, and walking all the way up Butt Lane after a very nice train ride and then reading in the churchyard while someone else goes around the museum.

'I'm making a courgette frittata out of what we had left apart from breakfast cereal,' said Kylie.Thank goodness they didn't have to settle for an onion and an egg!

Also, thank goodness they took sufficient clothes for when the weather suddenly changed up on the moor; I suspect they made the right decision not to take them off in that particular situation, although it was a close-run thing.

As I said when I first read this story, I think Branwell should set his sights a lot higher if he wants to plagiarise a book - any other Harry Potter book would be at least a little better (and of course the series was extremely popular at the time, so I can certainly understand his thinking) but he should see what's out there and consider his options very carefully.

This is one of only two stories in the eight-part series directly inspired by a trip I've taken, the other one being the last one (Jake wasn't on that trip, but the younger sister of the boy who inspired Michael's naked locker room walk was!). The fourth Harry Potter book came out in the UK on 8th July that year, and since I'd been inspired by my own experiences in Brontë country, it only made sense to combine the two literary themes to create something of a plot.

Fritz wrote:

I take it you have problems with Goblet of Fire?

I'd better not get started on what they are. Instead, staying on-topic, I know that some pretty bad (though not well-remembered) fanfic has in the past resulted from people projecting their own tastes onto their favourite characters, but in this case I think it's fair to say that the source material gives us a precedent for Eduardo liking children's fantasy literature and Kylie liking classics (the latter specifically from a crappy, crappy episode, but generally from her overall character too). With this in mind, I think it's okay for Eduardo to express similar opinions to mine - and (you may notice ) Jake's as well - on Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, and for Kylie to share my precise views on the most famous works on the Brontë sisters (I don't know whether she agreed with me when she got around to reading Charlotte's other books, as she must surely have done by now).

October 2004: Kevin turns to Oscar for support after an unpleasant incident at work, while Jandro finds himself taking care of Lucy in an unexpected way. For both couples, a seemingly ordinary evening soon turns into a particularly extraordinary night.

This episode is rated M (for "My oh my, that's saucy!"), as are all subsequent episodes in this particular series. In accordance with this rating, the stories don't contain detailed adult content, but it should be pretty obvious what's going on when we fade to black.

However, some detailed adult content does actually exist, and there's a short piece containing a couple of extra scenes from this episode on adultfanfiction.org in the "Archives/Cartoons/1-Through-F/Extreme Ghostbusters" section, from an author called simply "Jake". Even if the sex scene isn't to your personal taste, the piece ends with a non-sexual scene between Carl and Beth that I seriously considered actually putting in the main episode, but it was correctly decided that it was a bit too rude and interrupted the flow too much, and thus should remain as an additional scene.

_________________"Oh no, I let it loose!"

Last edited by KevinsMensPyjamas on October 7th, 2018, 4:53 am, edited 1 time in total.

October 2004: Kevin turns to Oscar for support after an unpleasant incident at work, while Jandro finds himself taking care of Lucy in an unexpected way. For both couples, a seemingly ordinary evening soon turns into a particularly extraordinary night.

This episode is rated M (for "My oh my, that's saucy!"), as are all subsequent episodes in this particular series. In accordance with this rating, the stories don't contain detailed adult content, but it should be pretty obvious what's going on when we fade to black.

However, some detailed adult content does actually exist, and there's a short piece containing a couple of extra scenes from this episode on adultfanfiction.org in the "Archives/Cartoons/1-Through-F/Extreme Ghostbusters" section, from an author called simply "Jake". Even if the sex scene isn't to your personal taste, the piece ends with a non-sexual scene between Carl and Beth that I seriously considered actually putting in the main episode, but it was correctly decided that it was a bit too rude and interrupted the flow too much, and thus should remain as an additional scene.

You obviously had the same thought I had as soon as I realized Oscar would be babysitting with Kevin: GB2 callbacks ahoy! Since we were introduced to Oscar as a baby and babysitting scenes were part of that story, it kind of closes the "circle of life" to refer back to it. Thankfully, the end result wasn't vomit inducing this time.

For me, a very interesting part of this story is seeing Carl beginning to try and build a meaningful relationship with his second son (as we know, and as Oscar reminds us, his relationship with his first son isn't great). Okay, so James is asleep at the time, but that doesn't matter too much when you're a baby and Carl makes his intentions very clear to us. We'll have to keep coming back to find out how he does the second time around...

Also to come is the truth about what's bothering Michael (this rather sooner than most of the Carl stuff, but still with another instalment of my Europe series to come first). Could his bad mood be connected to Ella thinking about her next steps in life? Maybe the promised Halloween gathering will reveal all... (I actually don't remember specifically, but I'll be surprised if this isn't the case. )

As I've said before, I always try to get in those Ghostbusters references from the parts of the canon that I am actually familiar with when the opportunity arises, and this one has to break the record for the greatest number of direct GB quotes squeezed into a single episode. I'm very glad to hear that it makes particular thematic sense in the case of Kevin and Oscar's night of babysitting and more.

I've just been looking back at my comments from last time, where I mentioned that Carl's personal journey and the significant role of the Kevin/Oscar relationship within it will certainly continue until we finally reach the end of this extensive saga, but what I didn't mention there (and it's certainly very relevant now) is that James will definitely play a big part in the whole thing too, in many different ways and on many different levels, and I've certainly enjoyed getting to grips with that while writing much of the stuff that's still to come.

I've also been looking back at my recent comments about Michael, and the phrase "crippling self-doubt" has struck me as being particularly relevant to how he might be feeling right now, and how that might affect things in the next episode. 'Halloween Havoc' is supposed to be an examination of the feelings and dynamics between Kevin and the rest of his little gang, and how they might continue in the future after members have had to spend some pretty significant time apart from each other, although I do worry that it might just turn out to be a very elaborately staged orgy. I guess we'll find out in six weeks!

The remote, beautiful and historic islands of Orkney are a source of endless wonder for Kylie, but Eduardo doesn't seem quite so impressed.

Just to warn you, this episode is lower on plot than most others in the series. It does have characterisation and themes (I hope), and shows our protagonists having more the kind of trip they were expecting, with no untoward surprises.

The remote, beautiful and historic islands of Orkney are a source of endless wonder for Kylie, but Eduardo doesn't seem quite so impressed.

Just to warn you, this episode is lower on plot than most others in the series. It does have characterisation and themes (I hope), and shows our protagonists having more the kind of trip they were expecting, with no untoward surprises.